The Art of photography

Principles:MakingDesignWork

Proportion

Whenalineisdividedintoparts,theratio

betweenthemisaproportion.Similarly,a

ratiocan bestruckbetweencomparable

elementsin
apicture,

defining

a

visual

relationshipthatmaydependonqualities

asobjective
assize,

numberandcolor,

orassubjectiveastoneorinterest(The

balanceoftheparts,andtheirdomi-

nanceorsubordination,areothercon-

siderations,althoughproportioncanin-

fluenceeither.)

Thepicturesonthesepagesareradi-

callydifferentinsubjectmatterandcom-

position,butproportionunderliestheirvi-

sualdynamics

—

and eachdependsona

ratioofskyscapeto

earthbound

subject

mattertowork

Asliver ofearthanchorsavaultingsky

puffedwithcloudsthatdwarfthetiny

windmilletchedagainstthelonelyhori-

zonatleft.Itisthe

proportionofthe

pictureoccupiedbythatenormoussky

thatmakesthewindmillandthedirtroad

leadinguptoitappearsoisolated.

Atright,nearlyequivalentproportions

leadtoaneffectoftensionbecauseihe

fivevertical

sectionsofthe silhouetted

windowframearealmost,butnotquite,

balanced.Thetensionis

reinforcedbe-

causethewarringpartsofthephoto-

graphcontaincontrastingcolors:blazing

orangesunlight

ontheleft,coolblueson

theright.Thiscontrastincolorsleadsto

aninterestingparadox:Becauseofit,the

smaller

butbrighterpartofthepicture

capturestheviewer'sattention.